Malawi has so far earned more than US$10.7 million from the sale of tobacco, the commission in charge of regulating and promoting the production of the golden leaf in the southern African country announced on Thursday.
The Tobacco Commission said more than 6.2 million kilogrammes of tobacco have been sold at the country’s three auction floors since the beginning of the 2019/20 marketing season on April 20.
It said that in terms of revenue, about US$9.7 million have been realized from the sale of burley tobacco while flue-cured tobacco has raked in nearly US$840,000.
The amount of tobacco so far trade is a small fraction of the 190 million kg that are expected to be sold at the auction floors in coming months, raising the expectations that the country would get significant foreign currency inflows from the golden leaf this year.
Malawi earns about 50 percent of its export revenues from tobacco sale, with more than 80 percent being the burley tobacco variety.
JN/APA